AFP photographer Blent Kili wins Visa dOr for news

AFP photographer B lent Kili wins Visa dOr for news THE VISA D'OR FOR NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY WAS AWARDED TO B LENT KILI AT THE CLOSE OF THE 27TH VISA POUR L'IMAGE INTERNATIONAL PHOTOJOURNALISM FESTIVAL FOR HIS COVERAGE OF SYRIAN REFUGEES CROSSING INTO TURKEY IN MID-JUNE OF THIS YEAR.

04 Sep 2015

The images of a mass of refugees pouring through a barbed wire fence at the Turkish border post of Ak akale made front pages world-wide.

In less than ten minutes some twenty thousand people had massed. I photographed this tragedy for four hours. Almost every other person was carrying a baby, they were shouting and trying to get through the gap. The opening was so small that people were treading on one another to get across the border. Children were being passed over the barbed wire. I hope I never see anything like that again.

B lent Kili 's coverages in Ukraine, Turkey and Syria have won numerous prizes, including the World Press Photo Award, the Bayeux-Calvados War Correspondents Prize, the National Press Photographers Association Award (NPPA) and the China International Press Photography Award (CHIPP). Kili was named best news agency photographer of 2014 by Time Magazine and The Guardian.

This prestigious award is the crowning recognition of B lent's remarkable work, a testament to the quality of AFP's production , said AFP Chairman Emmanuel Hoog.

Born in 1979, B lent Kili began his journalism career with the local Turkish press. In 2003 he became a news photographer, joining AFP as a stringer two years later. He is now based in Istanbul, where he is responsible for photo coverage of Turkey.

With its network of 500 photographers, AFP is the regular recipient of prestigious international awards. AFP distributes more than 3,000 photographs a day and is recognized for its photo coverage and expertise. AFP's image bank is enriched by the contributions of 50 partners and comprises some 34 million pictures. The international photo service created in 1985 has increased its production seven-fold since 2000.

About AFP

AFP is a global news agency delivering fast, accurate, in-depth coverage of the events shaping our world from conflicts to politics, sports, entertainment and the latest breakthroughs in health, science and technology. With 2,326 staff spread across almost every country, AFP covers the world 24 hours a day in six languages. AFP delivers the news in video, text, photos, multimedia and graphics to a wide range of customers including newspapers and magazines, radio and TV channels, web sites and portals, mobile operators, corporate clients as well as public institutions.

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